Say Goodbye To Dead Zones In Minnesota With ‘Satellite Mode’ On Your Phone

My wife received a text message from me the other day that said "sent via satellite mode." She had never seen anything like that, and neither had I until I tried it out. I was in an area with no signal on my iPhone and no 5G or LTE coverage. But something popped up on my phone that surprised me.

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I recently got the iPhone 16 PRO and I'm still learning all of the features of it. One of those features that popped up on a recent trip was to use satellite mode to send text messages or make phone calls. What is this?

I clicked the button and a view of space came up on my phone and it indicated a satellite was above me in range. So I sent my wife a text message to let her know I made it to my destination and she received it, all without any cell tower service.

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Then, being an elder millennial who still is haunted by roaming fees and paying per text message I panicked that I was going to be charged extra for this and I quickly turned it off. Remember when you had to pay per text? If you do, you're probably over 40.

I looked up more information on it. I have AT&T as a wireless provider, and they have teamed up with a company called AST SpaceMobile. Their mission is to provide mobile coverage from space that works on your current device. Yes, that's right, you may already be able to use it.

AT&T says it's available on all iPhones 14 and later. So you may already have it. AST SpaceMobile is still working on expanding its coverage. The partnership was just announced in 2024. Verizon and other mobile companies have signed deals as well, so check with your provider.